Weathered, Leathered Treasure Chest

This piece of Padauk was obviously the top piece on a pallet (for a long time). I left the weathered surface untouched, sanded the opposite surface and finished with teak oil.

The leather is held in place with wood glue and decorative wrought iron nails. The leather was left over from refinishing some chairs several years ago. The handles are secured with dowels, the sides are rabbeted, and the plywood base floats in a dado.

I drew the hinge designs on paper and using spray adhesive attached the paper to a piece of plywood. I cut out the pattern on the bandsaw and then adhered the leather to the plywood template. Then using a knife, I cut the leather to the shape of the template and then peeled it off. That process worked great.

The leather hinges are supposed to hold the lid upright and did initially, but the leather stretched to a point where that doesn’t work anymore. So, I added the leather strip to keep the lid from flopping back.